Dismal Day in Denali

We're off the boat, or as Frank likes to call it, "the Ship".  We said goodbye to her and set off for the town of Anchorage, a fairly nondescript kind of town.  It has the shopping centers, souvenir shops, hotels, etc. but is  very well know for its fly-in, fly-out workers for it voluminous supplies of oil and gas.  While having dinner, we chatted with the waitress and she described conditions in winter and commented that eight to nine (homeless) people die each year from freezing.  Occasionally, a young person will freeze to death after a night of heavy drinking in a club, and while heading home might, stumble and fall and not get up again, literally.  Not a nice news story! 

We also met some rather loud guys from Chicago and Minnesota who took a bit of a shine to the two Australians having dinner next to them.  That's the photo Frank put up of the three guys admiring me.  Mind you, they were a bit tipsy... 

The weather has not be kind to us leading up to our final days.  We have been spoiled, however, with reports that at this end of the world, it rains for the most part of the year.  Despite the weather, it is still eerily beautiful here in Denali.  During our 3 hour coach ride from Anchorage, to our delight, we saw a young bear cub in it's natural habitat ... among the woods; it was so exciting!  The terrain in these parts is slightly different to previous virgin alpine forests we've seen.  It resembles more bush land down on the flats but as the road rises up towards the mountain, it changes again.  I have never seen so many mountains in one place and as a consequence very few people live in these parts.  

We're at McKinley's Lodge which is the largest private park accommodation, with landscapes that blend in with nature; the Alaskans are quite conscious of preserving their fauna and flora, which makes me happy.

Hope all is well ... 7 sleeps to go before I get back to my lovely home.

Frank is on the bed in the fetal position because he wants to stay on.

Bye for now.